


Dance of Blood

by Aliendel



Category: Bleach
Genre: Crush at First Sight, Kinda, M/M, Pre-Slash, UraIchi Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 12:04:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18964867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aliendel/pseuds/Aliendel
Summary: Ichigo got in over his head, Kisuke came to the rescue. It's a dance that should be familiar to the young man by now.Only Ichigo's never really paid attention before, he never got the time. He never saw how Kisuke moved with deadly elegance, how mesmerizing Benihime could be. He wondered if the way his blood sang in his veins and heated up his cheeks was also part of her power.UraIchi Week 2019 - Day 5: Blood





	Dance of Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow easy and cliché, but well...  
> I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.

After the war against Yhwach, things finally slowed down in Soul Society. Where in the past few years it had been crisis after crisis that had forced Ichigo to get involved, now the situation was actually peaceful. Only a few skirmishes with powerful hollows every month or so. Nothing, he’d been told, that couldn’t be handled by any self-respecting officers of the Gotei 13.

Ichigo found himself spending most of his time in the living world, he was home most nights for Yuzu’s amazing meals.

One would think he would finally have the time to rest, hang out with his friends and submit something other than half complete and hurried schoolwork.

One would be wrong.

Karakura was still a reishi enriched territory with several spiritually active souls living there. And so, despite the lack of madman to lead them there, hollows were still attracted to the town like moths to a flame. He suspected his own reiatsu alone to be enough to attract most of Japan’s dumb hollows.

When it had been proved that nothing short of a full squad led by at least a lieutenant could deal with the infestation problem, it had simply been decided that the protection of Karakura would fall to Ichigo and his friends.

At least they were getting paid for it.

 They were also now officially part of the Gotei 13 though not members of any Division. The legalities were convoluted and had gone _way_ above Ichigo’s head. They had, however, satisfied the most paranoid of his acquaintances, Geta-Boshi, Shinji and surprisingly Shunsui, who had pronounced Ichigo and the rest now free from a lot of the reformed Central 46’s shenanigans. It was one of the reasons why the young man hadn’t protested too much despite the busy workload.

And it was a busy one, heavily so, with hollows pouring into town in massive waves. However, with Ichigo, Chad, Inoue, and Ishida working together while Tatsuki and Karin picked out the stragglers, they managed.

… At least until the day when most of the town’s protectors found themselves unable to fight.

Ishida was away on some fashion convention while everyone else, Ichigo and his sister excepted, got laid out by the virulent cold going around school. The two Kurosakis were left alone to deal with a wave of hollows whose numbers were as high as ever, if not higher. The monsters seemed to sense the vulnerable state Karakura’s defenders.

He wasn’t a tactician, but enough battles had taught him what his limits were; he couldn’t search and destroy all of the hollows and be on time to save every soul from getting devoured. So he did the only logical thing, he found an empty clearing on the outskirts of town and flared his reiatsu, attracting every monster in a large radius. His sister, who had refused to remain at home ( _damn it Karin!_ ), was staying inside the strongest Kidou barrier he could erect and had orders to only shoot her soccer ball when it was safe to do so. Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu and prepared himself for a long fight. None of the many hollows hurrying towards the Kurosakis would be a challenge for him in any way, but even the greatest master could be overcome by enough small fry.

The battle lasted for hours.

He could have ended it with a few Getsuga Tenshou if the hollows had had the decency to come all together. But, _of_ _course,_ they had trickled in the clearing in groups of twos or threes and so it became a battle of attrition.

Ichigo’s had been running on instinct for some time now, his body littered with countless small cuts that, while none serious, made him bleed a little too much for his taste. He was getting tired, making more mistakes, but he only had to hold on for a little longer. If this day followed the usual pattern ( _please let it be so!_ ), the hollows would be all purified and he would have 10 to 15 hours of respite before the next vague arrived in Karakura lured in by the promise of a spiritually enriched meal.

He was evading an attack and stumbling over his tired feet when a familiar hand helped to steady him and suddenly he was placed protectively behind a green and white haori.

Geta-Boushi didn’t waste time with niceties, only unsheathed his zanpakutou and whispered, in a voice that would haunt Ichigo’s dreams for months, “Nake Benihime.”

Then the surroundings turned red as the shinigami and his lady began their bloody dance.

Ichigo was mesmerized, he’d never seen him and Benihime in action before. Or if he had, it was at a time when he had had more important things to focus on and couldn’t afford to be distracted. Now he could, everybody was safe and Geta-Boushi, _Kisuke_ , would take care of things. Everything was fine.

More than fine, really.

The evening light reflected on bloodlike reiatsu (or was it real blood, Ichigo couldn’t tell) making it seem as a flowing river of rubies. The hollows black and white bodies only accented Benihime’s lethal beauty while their dying screams, usually grating, complimented the enthralling scene as the heartfelt prayers of devoted followers to their bloody goddess.

And in the center of it all, leading the deadly dance, stood a Shinigami, a true one, one whose only purpose was to bring death.

Ichigo had never seen Kisuke this way before. Gone were the smiles and polite demeanor. The man moved with purpose and confidence, each of his steps and strikes a study of lethal elegance. This went completely the few glimpses of seriousness he had caught from the man before. In many ways, Ichigo felt like he was seeing the real Kisuke for the first time.

He never wanted the moment to end.

As focused as he was on the sight before him, he barely registered Karin dragging him inside the Kidou barrier. The thoughts of; ‘Oh right, it’s been a while since I heard her’, ‘She must have gone and asked Kisuke for help’, ‘It’s telling that she went for him instead of Dad’ and ‘I’m glad she’s unharmed’ passed quickly through his mind, but his eyes never left the older shinigami.

Kisuke eventually ran out of hollows to fight and ( _too soon!_ ) the dance ended.

As soon as the last monster fell, the man was at his side with healing green Kidou. Ichigo should have been reassuring Kisuke, telling him that his injuries were minor, but he just couldn’t concentrate on anything besides the image of the Shinigami wielding Benihime.

Eventually, the shopkeeper must have realized his distracted state because he raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the orange haired young man.

And Ichigo, though he would definitely be embarrassed later, couldn’t help but whisper in wonder, “I never knew that blood could be so beautiful.”


End file.
